This invention relates to the catalytic oxidation of ammonia to oxides of nitrogen, notably nitric oxide, from which there can be produced nitric acid.
The nitric acid industry conventionally utilizes a catalyst which comprises pure platinum or a mixture of the pure metals obtained from platinum ore and which is in the form of a cloth or gauze, the thickness of the filaments of the cloth or gauze varying between a few centimeters and a few tenths of a millimeter. It is known that selectivity plays an important part in this type of ammonia oxidation; with the known catalysts the difficulty arises as to how to vary the selectivity, due to the employment of the catalyst as an extremely thin layer represented by the thickness of the cloths.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a catalytic composition which enables these difficulties to be overcome.
It is another object of the invention to provide a process for the catalytic oxidation of ammonia using a higher ammonia flow rate.